BELCHER, SIR EDWARD (_2 son of Andrew Belcher, of Clarence lodge, Roehampton, Surrey_). _b._ Nova Scotia 1799; entered navy 9 April 1812; one of original fellows of Royal Geog. Soc. 1830; sailed round the world in H.M.S. Sulphur 1836–42; captain 6 May 1841; engaged surveying in East Indies 1842–47; C.B. 14 Oct. 1841, K.C.B. 13 March 1867; knighted by patent for his services in China 21 Jany. 1843; granted pension for wounds 13 March 1847; commanded expedition in search of Sir John Franklin 10 Feb. 1852 to Oct. 1854; admiral 20 Oct. 1872; F.R.A.S. Dec. 1837; claimed to be the inventor of water-tight bulkheads and compartments; granted a Greenwich hospital pension of £150 per annum 7 Dec. 1874; author of _A treatise on nautical surveying_ 1835; _Narrative of a voyage round the world 2 vols._ 1843; _Narrative of the voyage of H.M.S. Samarang 2 vols._ 1848; _Horatio Howard Brenton a naval novel 3 vols._ 1856; _The last of the Arctic voyages 2 vols._ 1855. (_m._ 11 Sep. 1830 Diana dau. of George Jolliffe, captain H.E.I.C.S.) _d._ 6 Melcombe place, Dorset sq. London 18 March 1877. _Army and Navy mag. iv_, 1–5 (1882), _portrait_; _I.L.N. xxi_, 321 (1852), _portrait, lxx_, 299 (1878), _portrait_; _Journal of Royal Geog. Soc. xlvii_, 136–42 (1877); _Monthly notices of Royal Astron. Soc. xxxviii_, 141–43 (1878); _Transactions of Instit. of naval architects xi_, 12–19, 197–211 (1870). BELCHER, REV. JOSEPH. _b._ Birmingham 5 April 1794; Baptist divine; went to United States 1844; author of _Pastoral recollections_ 1837; _The clergy of America_ 1849; _George Whitfield, a biography_ 1860; said to have written more religious works than any other author of the century. _d._ Philadelphia 10 July 1859.